Lee Gainer

I manipulate found imagery and objects in order to visually analyze the unwritten rules and hidden messages associated with modern American life. By focusing on one aspect within a specific, media driven ideal, I examine the psychology behind these conventions and how they may alter our expectations. This act provides an ambiguous space in which the viewer is invited to consider the cultural expectations of social status, gender roles, age, race, morality, tradition, and sexuality.

This sociological work is a manifestation of my own experience. I grew up in a relatively standard, pre-internet, blue collar household inundated with images that were delivered though the TV and local newspaper. These messages symbolized “the better life” and “how it should be”. Since the development of the world wide web and the expansion of media into every nook and cranny of our daily lives, we now receive far more visual information than ever before. It is through this barrage that we receive cues, as a society, as to what is acceptable and what is not. I am intrigued by how these messages can manipulate us culturally.

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The models displayed on the covers of women’s fashion magazines are presented as the epitome of modern beauty. Some women attempt to emulate the attributes of these cover models by using various products and even through surgical means. It is not unusual for a woman to request the hairstyle of this singer from their stylist or even the lips or nose of that actress from their surgeon. If we can pick and choose specific features and re-combine them as we please, is beauty simply a collaboration of features? Is loveliness merely a sum of our parts?” – Lee Gainer

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